Our young people are watching us every day. They are watching to see if adults show up for them: Not with empty promises but with a seat on a bus, a safe place to be, and educational expectations that they rise higher. And there’s no better place to prove we’re serious than getting them ready for school.
Ask any teacher what the first week of school feels like and they’ll tell you the same thing it sets the tone for everything that follows. The seating charts, the friendships, the routines, the first lessons that everything else builds on. All of it happens in those opening days. A child who walks in on Day One steps into that momentum. A child who arrives on Day Five, or the old “after Labor Day” habit, spends weeks trying to catch a bus that already left the station.
That’s why we are launching Day One Ready, a citywide push to get every Detroit child enrolled and in the classroom on the first day of school ‒ August 24 or 31 for most students.
I say “we” deliberately. Day One Ready was built hand in hand with Detroit Public Schools Community District and the more than 50 public charter districts across our city, ensuring all Detroit students are Day One Ready.
The message is simple: let’s get every Detroit child to start school on Day One. For the first time, city government, DPSCD, and the charter schools are standing together and pulling in the same direction, which underlines the urgency of the push.
This problem belongs to all of us
I know this up close. My own younger cousin missed her first days of school, and I saw what it cost her. She’s a bright kid who fell a step behind, scrambling to catch up on lessons her classmates had already completed. She got there eventually, but it took far more out of her than it should have.
Start with attendance, because Detroit’s numbers are stark. Researchers estimate more than half of all K-12 students in Detroit are chronically absent, missing 10% or more of the school year, or about 18 days. That is more than twice Michigan’s statewide rate of roughly 28% ‒ and it cuts across district and charter schools alike. The problem belongs to all of us.
I say this plainly, not to blame anyone, but because a problem this size demands honesty. One of the clearest predictors of a lost year is a shaky start to it. A child who begins behind tends to stay behind, because catching up is genuinely hard.
We can work to lift barriers
Then there’s the money, because in Michigan, the money follows the child. Funding is driven largely by enrollment, with the fall pupil count accounting for 90% of a district’s weighted student count. State law requires every public school, traditional and charter alike, to maintain at least 75% attendance each instructional day and the same state-aid penalties apply across the board. When schools don’t meet that requirement, money leaves our classrooms, important dollars meant for teachers and students.
This is where city government and schools meet. A mayor doesn’t run Detroit’s schools, and this administration has never pretended otherwise. But the barriers that keep a child from the classroom, like transportation, staying healthy, and having somewhere to go after the last bell, are exactly the ones this city can help lift. And we have.
The Detroit Health Department can help
In May, my administration launched Ride to Rise. Now backed by an additional $1 million from the state, Ride to Rise gives every Detroit K–12 student free rides on city buses seven days a week, so bus fare is never a barrier to getting to school. An Education Liaison now connects my office with DPSCD and our charter schools, and that work surfaced the safety concerns students raised directly. That is why we launched Ride to Rise Ambassadors, and a rideshare pilot, so students feel safe. Out-of-school funding is also up 120%, to $2.2 million.
Part of a strong start is a healthy one. The Detroit Health Department helps families meet some of those requirements at no cost. Our Immunizations Program provides the required childhood vaccines at 100 Mack Ave., including through the Vaccines for Children program for families who couldn’t otherwise afford them. And our Vision and Hearing Program offers free screenings for every Detroit child age 3 to 18, catching the kind of undiagnosed problem that can quietly hold a student back.
Families can call (313) 876-4000 or visit detroitmi.gov/health to schedule.
Let’s get our kids to school
Absenteeism on day one and beyond is not a new problem, and our schools have expanded attendance agents, home visits and neighborhood health hubs with real progress to show for it. My job is to remove obstacles that keep a child from getting to school – the ride, the health form, and place to be after the bell rings. Teachers and parents get them ready to learn. Day One Ready is what all that looks like pointed at a single day: the first one.
I’ve said all along that young people aged 0-26 would be at the center of how the administration governs. I don’t accept that a child’s future should be determined by barriers getting to school, a medical form that never got filled out, or a system that lets them fall behind before September is even over. Register your kids if they are not already, and let’s get them to school on the first day and on time.
Mary Sheffield is mayor of Detroit. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters, and we pay publish it in print or online.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit kids can’t afford to miss the first day of school | Opinion
Reporting by Mary Sheffield, Op-ed contributor / Detroit Free Press
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By Mary Sheffield, Op-ed contributor | USA TODAY Network
